SEPTEMBER 18, 1:23pm: The signing is official, the team announced on its website.

SEPTEMBER 13, 5pm: The Heat are finalizing a four-year contract extension with Josh Richardson, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who reports that the deal will be worth $42MM. While Richardson was a second-round pick in 2015 and wasn’t eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason, the league’s new CBA made him eligible for a veteran extension until opening night.

According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald (Twitter link), Richardson’s agents met with Heat president Pat Riley about two weeks ago and the team expressed a willingness to give Richardson the maximum offer. Under the terms of the CBA, that max amount would mean a starting salary of 120% of the estimated annual salary.

Richardson’s new deal will go into effect for the 2018/19 season and would run through 2022 if he plays out the entire contract. However, the final year of the extension, for the 2021/22 campaign, is a player option, according to Jackson, who provides a year-by-year breakdown of the pact (Twitterlinks).

Richardson’s cap for 2017/18 won’t be impacted by the new deal — he remains on track to earn the minimum $1,471,382 this season. However, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks (ESPN Now link) details, the Heat now project to sit roughly $5.5MM below the tax with $117.5MM on the books for 2018/19. That figure could increase to approximately $119.6MM if Dion Waiters and Kelly Olynyk hit games-played bonuses in their respective contracts, according to Marks.

Richardson broke out as a rookie, evidenced by his 46.1% mark from behind the arc. He slumped as a sophomore though, in part because of ankle injuries. In 105 career games with the franchise to date, the shooting guard has scored 8.4 points per game and nearly averaged a steal per contest.

11 thoughts on “Heat Sign Josh Richardson To Four-Year Extension”

Jackson’s numbers for the breakdown seem off. The estimated average salary for 17/18 if $7.8435M. 120% of that (assuming Richardsons gets the max raise) will give him $9.4122M in 18/19. Again, assuming that Richardson agrees to max raises of 8% his annual salary going forward will be $10.165176M (19/20), $10.918152M (20/21) and $11.671128M (21/22). Thus running his total over 4 years to $42.166656M.

Those are the numbers I got too — either Jackson’s numbers are slightly off or it wasn’t quite the absolute max. Will wait for confirmation, but either way, the difference would be marginal (less than $100K per year).

You’re forgeting Tyler Johnson(!!). Richardson’s best shot is at the 3 since Winslow will probably need time to get his shooting squared away. There was an article on HR about Richardson and Winslow competing at SF, quoting Pat Riley if I recall right.
The team has a quality 3or4-guard rotation already bringing a good variety of styles & all hit 3s including Dragic & Ellington, and they’re all backed up on court by a super rim protector and so can take risks. When KO-lynyk replaces Bloodsport they can spread the D for driving. Cmon 49 wins.

Awesome. Team friendly deal, in my opinion. The Heat have movable contracts, besides Olynyk, and should be able to make trades if necessary, over the next couple of years. This roster is versatile, especially at the wing position. It should be fun to see what a healthy roster can do defensively next year